''The Two Souls of Socialism'' is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

pamphlet by the Marxist writer

Hal Draper Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky; September 19, 1914 – January 26, 1990) was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement. He is known for his extensive scholarship on t ...

, in which the author posits a fundamental division in

thought and action between those who favor "Socialism from Above" and those who favor "Socialism from Below." The pamphlet was first published as a lengthy article in the journal '' New Politics'' in 1966, expanding upon an earlier version published in 1960 in the socialist student magazine ''Anvil''. It has been anthologized, reprinted, and reissued in pamphlet form many times since then. Socialism from Above is the name given by Draper to philosophies of collectivized property that envision administration from above by an elite, whether intellectual, political, or technical. Socialism from Below would proceed from a very different conception of common ownership, with power instead flowing from the workers themselves, with decision-making capacities broadly distributed. The divide between these two souls of socialism, Draper argues, underlies all other divisions such as "reformist or revolutionary, peaceful or violent, democratic or authoritarian, etc." Most of the pamphlet is a detailed typology and strongly worded criticism of various forms of Socialism from Above. Among the practitioners of Socialism from Above, Draper includes such varied forms of socialism as

utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

, Communist dictatorship and Stalinism,

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

, and anarchism. Confessing that Socialism from Below "has had few consistent exponents and not many inconsistent ones," he nevertheless identifies it with

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, "whose notion was from the very beginning that the emancipation of the working class must be the act of the working class itself." The piece is organized primarily as a brief history of socialism and important socialist thinkers, beginning with a critical glance at "ancestors" such as

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politi ...

and the Gracchi before turning to Babeuf, Saint-Simon, and utopians such as Fourier and Owen. Draper then lauds Marx as the first champion of Socialism from Below, "who finally fettered the two ideas of Socialism and Democracy together." The next sections of the pamphlet consider in turn subsequent manifestations of Socialism from Above, including anarchists (specifically

Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Soci ...

and

Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...

), Lassalle, the Fabians, Eduard Bernstein, and American socialists such as

Edward Bellamy Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel ''Looking Backward''. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerou ...

. The final sections separate out "six strains of Socialism from Above" (philanthropism, elitism, plannism, communionism, permeationism, and Socialism from Outside) and conclude with a call to

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s "to choose the road of Socialism from Below." Notably, the pamphlet does not devote consideration to the question of whether the

Soviet Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

at its inception was guided by the principles of Socialism from Below or Socialism from Above, although the entire pamphlet is implicitly guided by the moral and political opposition to Stalinism that shaped Draper's life work.

External links

''The Two Souls of Socialism''
at the Marxists Internet Archives Socialism Pamphlets 1966 essays Works by Hal Draper {{DEFAULTSORT:Two Souls of Socialism, The